Jihadist was a 'muscle for hire'

Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie and Nick Ralston

An underworld clash between Khaled Sharrouf and other crime figures over attempts to collect a disputed $9 million debt precipitated Sharrouf's departure to the Middle East to join murderous extremist group, the Islamic State.

Sharrouf, who recently gained global infamy after pictures were posted on social media of his young son holding a severed head, was attempting to recover the debt in the months before his departure for Iraq.

Sharrouf was muscle for hire in the Sydney underbelly, working closely with bikies, drug dealers and underworld identities before leaving Australia on his brother's passport.

Senior law enforcement officials suspect that his concern for his safety influenced his decision to leave, as did the federal government's crackdown on local jihadists heading overseas to fight in Iraq and Syria.

Related Content

Fairfax Media can reveal that Sharrouf was working with Sydney building industry identity George Alex.

It is believed that in early 2013, Alex's then right-hand man, Joe Antoun, a criminal who was later murdered, arranged for a third party to purchase a house that Sharrouf and his family moved into. Alex and Antoun also employed one of Sharrouf's closest relatives in their construction business.

Advertisement

Sharrouf, who has also recently appeared in videos where he appears to execute unarmed prisoners, began to associate with Alex and Antoun after he served a jail sentence for his role in the 2005 plot to blow up Sydney's Holsworthy army barracks.

In return for the pair's financial support, Sharrouf collected debts and conducted other tasks, including helping in Alex's efforts to collect a $9 million disputed debt a building company owner claimed he was owed by the property development company Meriton owned by Sydney billionaire Harry Triguboff, who is one of Australia's biggest developers.

Safety concerns: Sydney gangster Khaled Sharrouf is now believed to be fighting in Iraq and Syria.

A source close to Meriton earlier this year confirmed the company had been approached by underworld figures in connection to the disputed debt, but told them to ''get lost''.

In a statement to Fairfax Media in January, Meriton said the subcontractor who claimed to be owed money was ordered off site because he was ''not fulfilling his obligations''. Meriton said it paid the subcontractor what he was owed, as well as the workers.

''Debt collectors retained by the said subcontractor did not demand any payment,'' Meriton said.

''They sought clarification from us first as to whether the debt was due. The debt collectors were advised by us that no money was owing. We provided the debt collector with evidence of the same. Accordingly, no money was paid or collected.''

Police sources have confirmed that in June 2013, Alex, Sharrouf, convicted drug dealer Bilal Fatrouni and debt collector Vasko Boskovski were involved in a dispute with a violent underworld group from Sydney's south-west who claimed they had first rights to the debt collection.

Around this time, Sharrouf, Alex and Fatrouni had met Mr Triguboff's construction manager in a Sydney pizza restaurant and claimed to be able to keep this group at bay and handle the debt recovery. The terrified construction manager broke down during this meeting and a video of that incident was later passed between crime figures. As feuding increased about who was entitled to recover the debt, a senior Sydney Islamic leader is believed to have become involved and urged the men to cease fighting.

But it is believed that during a confrontation with the rival group, Sharrouf produced and discharged a shotgun.

A short time after this, Sharrouf's close associate and business partner Boskovski was killed during a botched shotgun kneecapping believed to have been arranged by the rival group.

Sharrouf and Alex are believed to have feared for their lives in the days after Boskovski's murder and bunkered down in Alex's Burwood house.

After Sharrouf left, using his brother's passport in December, federal police raided the house Antoun had bought for him and his family to live in.

A second extremist figure, Mohamad Elomar, who is fighting alongside Sharrouf in Iraq, also spent significant time at Alex's house in Sydney and was often boxing in a gym out the back.

It is believed Sharrouf and Elomar would engage in lengthy discussions about religion, while simultaneously mixing with some of Sydney's most dangerous criminals.